WHOSCALE: 7.5 OUT OF 10
New Earth marked the official start of the David Tennant years, and while The Christmas Invasion was a bit of a flop, this one held up much better than some of Davies' other episodes.
Everything about the initial plotline just seemed to fit right into the "Doctor Who" mold with this one - The Doctor & Rose travel to the distant future and for the first time we visit a planet other than Earth. The planet has been colonized by humans that abandoned the Earth we saw in "The End of the World." The Doctor explains to Rose that the human race travelled the universe in search of a new home, and came across this planet - appropriate
ly named "New Earth," - which was very similar to old Earth in atmosphere, land mass, location from its sun, etc.
The episode's story unfolds extremely well. The TARDIS materializes on a grassy summit overlooking a bay and the nearby New New York. Ofcourse, Davies always makes the Who flow a bit bumpy with bits here and there of romance - illustrated in the beginning of this episode with Rose putting her arms through the Doctor's, and saying softly, "Can I just say.....travelling with you...." Later, the two of them are lying in the grass on the Doctor's coat.
However, in Davies' defense, we are soon introduced to our first problem in this episode in traditional Doctor Who format - we, the audience, are aware that something's afoot before the Doctor and Rose do. This refers to the scenes of Chip watching a monitor in a dark, gloomy room with images on the monitor of the Doctor and Rose enjoying their relaxtion on the summit. We are further shown that the video being fed to Chip's monitor is coming from one of the metal spiders first seen in "The End of the World" with the Ninth Doctor. By this point, most of us have already worked out atleast ONE of the issues in this episode - Cassandra is at it again.
The plot thickens when Rose asks the Doctor if they can visit New New York - "the city so great they named it twice" as Rose jokes - and the Doctor replies that instead they should check out a nearby hospital because of a message he receives on his psychic paper.
The hospital scenes were great, looking very futuristic and contained very little 21st century elements. The Sisters of Plentitude (the cat people) were extremely well done, and made up for 100% of the hospital's employees. For once, Davies did not have humans in 21st century scrubs running the place. This was a big plus, and helped contribute to the fact that we were on another planet, in another time, where things are done vastly different than what we are accustomed to here in the present. Additionally, the patient wards were not the traditional wall & rooms that we see today.
Another classic Who mark was the Doctor and his companion getting split up, allowing for two justified plots, but both of those plots contributing to the overall story. Rose misses the lift and is forced to take a different one - Cassandra arranges for Rose to be brought to the hospital's basement via the lift while the Doctor continues on up to Ward 26. Rose steps off the lift and is greeted by a timid Chip, who calls her by full name - Rose Tyler. Chip then leads the way to Cassandra's chamber, where we are then introduced to another threat - Cassandra explains that the Sisters of Plentitude are hiding a dark secret at the hospital, then transfers her conciousness to Rose's body.
The plot thickens yet even more when the Doctor discovers a patient that only moments earlier was infected with a terminal illness has made a full recovery. Rose/Cassandra rejoins the Doctor in Ward 26, and the Doctor instantly takes notice of Rose's unusual behavior, being that Cassandra is trying her best to "be Rose."
The duo discover a hidden passageway leading to the hospital's underground, where the truth of the hospital's secret is revealed - thousands of pods containing infected artifically grown humans are present. Set up to be one gigantic laboratory, the Sisters of Solitude use them to engineer cures of all known diseases and illnesses.
Cassandra reveals herself to the Doctor, and inadvertently releases all of the infected humans. The tone of the episode becomes something out of Resident Evil with zombie-like humans on the march infecting anyone they touch. The hospital is quarantined from the outside, trapping everyone inside.
However, Davies cleverly concludes this plot with the Doctor filling a disinfection tank placed on top of the lifts with all of the IV fluids from the Wards. He then lures the infected humans into the lift, where they are spray with the disinfectant and thus cured.
The last loose end is tied up, with the Doctor and the Face of Boe exhanging a few words.
Overall this episode stayed within the confines of Doctor Who standards fairly reasonably - even with the music. It's rare that Davies wrote episodes that were strictly about something Who.
Everything about the initial plotline just seemed to fit right into the "Doctor Who" mold with this one - The Doctor & Rose travel to the distant future and for the first time we visit a planet other than Earth. The planet has been colonized by humans that abandoned the Earth we saw in "The End of the World." The Doctor explains to Rose that the human race travelled the universe in search of a new home, and came across this planet - appropriate
ly named "New Earth," - which was very similar to old Earth in atmosphere, land mass, location from its sun, etc. The episode's story unfolds extremely well. The TARDIS materializes on a grassy summit overlooking a bay and the nearby New New York. Ofcourse, Davies always makes the Who flow a bit bumpy with bits here and there of romance - illustrated in the beginning of this episode with Rose putting her arms through the Doctor's, and saying softly, "Can I just say.....travelling with you...." Later, the two of them are lying in the grass on the Doctor's coat.
However, in Davies' defense, we are soon introduced to our first problem in this episode in traditional Doctor Who format - we, the audience, are aware that something's afoot before the Doctor and Rose do. This refers to the scenes of Chip watching a monitor in a dark, gloomy room with images on the monitor of the Doctor and Rose enjoying their relaxtion on the summit. We are further shown that the video being fed to Chip's monitor is coming from one of the metal spiders first seen in "The End of the World" with the Ninth Doctor. By this point, most of us have already worked out atleast ONE of the issues in this episode - Cassandra is at it again.
The plot thickens when Rose asks the Doctor if they can visit New New York - "the city so great they named it twice" as Rose jokes - and the Doctor replies that instead they should check out a nearby hospital because of a message he receives on his psychic paper.
The hospital scenes were great, looking very futuristic and contained very little 21st century elements. The Sisters of Plentitude (the cat people) were extremely well done, and made up for 100% of the hospital's employees. For once, Davies did not have humans in 21st century scrubs running the place. This was a big plus, and helped contribute to the fact that we were on another planet, in another time, where things are done vastly different than what we are accustomed to here in the present. Additionally, the patient wards were not the traditional wall & rooms that we see today.
Another classic Who mark was the Doctor and his companion getting split up, allowing for two justified plots, but both of those plots contributing to the overall story. Rose misses the lift and is forced to take a different one - Cassandra arranges for Rose to be brought to the hospital's basement via the lift while the Doctor continues on up to Ward 26. Rose steps off the lift and is greeted by a timid Chip, who calls her by full name - Rose Tyler. Chip then leads the way to Cassandra's chamber, where we are then introduced to another threat - Cassandra explains that the Sisters of Plentitude are hiding a dark secret at the hospital, then transfers her conciousness to Rose's body.
The plot thickens yet even more when the Doctor discovers a patient that only moments earlier was infected with a terminal illness has made a full recovery. Rose/Cassandra rejoins the Doctor in Ward 26, and the Doctor instantly takes notice of Rose's unusual behavior, being that Cassandra is trying her best to "be Rose."
The duo discover a hidden passageway leading to the hospital's underground, where the truth of the hospital's secret is revealed - thousands of pods containing infected artifically grown humans are present. Set up to be one gigantic laboratory, the Sisters of Solitude use them to engineer cures of all known diseases and illnesses.
Cassandra reveals herself to the Doctor, and inadvertently releases all of the infected humans. The tone of the episode becomes something out of Resident Evil with zombie-like humans on the march infecting anyone they touch. The hospital is quarantined from the outside, trapping everyone inside.
However, Davies cleverly concludes this plot with the Doctor filling a disinfection tank placed on top of the lifts with all of the IV fluids from the Wards. He then lures the infected humans into the lift, where they are spray with the disinfectant and thus cured.
The last loose end is tied up, with the Doctor and the Face of Boe exhanging a few words.
Overall this episode stayed within the confines of Doctor Who standards fairly reasonably - even with the music. It's rare that Davies wrote episodes that were strictly about something Who.
I'm watching this episode right now for the first time...(no, I didn't read your whole review, 'cause I don't want spoilers...)
ReplyDeleteI just started watching Doctor Who this year, and I really like it.
I have a glob about DW, too, where I am reviewing the episodes...I would really like it if you followed me :)